On 21 Nov, 19:03, bealoid  wrote:
> Mike  wrote innews:81d7ee57-b43b-48f5-9097-12886fd6977f@c30g2000hsa.googlegroups.com:
>
> [snip]
>
> > Extracting this kind data held on the DWP systems is simply not
> > possible by rank and file processors.  It requires a specific scan of
> > an offline copy of the database (GMS).  When I have requested scan
> > data I've had to sign a request which was authorised by the office
> > manager and given an undertaking regarding access, keeping it secure
> > and retention.  I was under no illusion what my responsibilities were
> > and this was a scan of only a few thousand cases.
>
> I'd be interested to know the format that the data is in.  News reports say
> it was "password protected, but not encrypted".  Does this mean it's just
> some kind of Excel / Access file?
>
> Do government departments have procedures for encrypting data that they
> send through their internal post?

Whenever I've had scans done I've had the choice of paper or excel
spreadsheet with the only protection being excels own.  That said the
file has been e-mailed to me via an internal e-mail system so it
hasn't left the gov system.

I've never sent customer data outside the DWP en-mass.

Mike